Down Girl

Nora Berenstain, Mind Kate Manne's Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny combines traditional conceptual analysis and feminist conceptual engineering with critical exploration of cases drawn from popular culture and current events in order to produce an ameliorative account of misogyny, that is, one that will help address the problems of misogyny in the actual world. The result is a timely, engaging, and relatively accessible account of a phenomenon that, in a variety of ways, structures the lives of millions.

Mari Mikkola, Australasian Journal of Philosophy Manne's elucidation of misogyny's logic is interesting and illuminating ... [her] extensive use of real-world examples to illustrate and argue for her understanding of misogyny is laudable and exemplary of good philosophising.

Rebecca Traister, author of Good and Mad In Down Girl, Kate Manne does a jaw-droppingly brilliant job of explaining gender and power dynamics which have always been purposefully muddied, but which shape how and to whom sympathy and presumptions of full humanity accrue. Manne's work has been invaluable to me and so many others fighting to make sense of the world and who has power within it. You will understand our current moment far better and more easily after having read Down Girl. Perceptive, bold, stylishly written and bracingly clear eyed, Down Girl is one of the best books I have ever read on gender and power; I will never stop learning from it.

Thomas E. Randall, Hypatia Reviews Down Girl leaves the reader wanting more, and Manne eagerly invites both scholars and her general audience to fill in those gaps. Rich conversations and literatures will surely follow in this book's wake.

Afua Hirsch, Times Literary Supplement Manne's book is a forensic and clever analysis which provides the cogs and wheels of how the system of patriarchal policing works, in our minds, as well as in our world. ... For the ordinary thinker concerned about societal oppression, Down Girl offers a sharply cut prism through which to view our everyday experience.

Sarah Song, University of California, Berkeley Kate Manne has written a deeply moving and powerful book. It is politically engaged philosophical analysis at its best.

Toril Moi, Duke University Persuasively defining "misogyny" as hostile, demeaning, shaming, and punitive treatment of women, Down Girl brings out the misogynist logic of contemporary culture with wit and urgency. In this book "misogyny" emerges as the law enforcement branch of patriarchy, and thus as a concept that fully deserves a place alongside "patriarchy" and "sexism" as a fundamental tool for feminist analysis. Combining conceptual clarity with passionate commitment, Down Girl is indispensable reading for anyone who wishes to understand the ugly strand of hostility to women that has surfaced in recent years in our so-called advanced Western societies.

Martha C. Nussbaum, University of Chicago Despite its somber topic, Kate ...

Kate Manne is an assistant professor of philosophy at Cornell University, having previously been a junior fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows from 2011 - 2013. She works in moral, social, and feminist philosophy. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Times Literary Supplement, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Huffington Post, and The New Philosopher, as well as academic journals. Her lead essay for a forum on misogyny in The Boston Review was one of their '25 most-loved essays' for 2016.

Preface: Wronging Him Introduction: (Eating) Her Words Chapter 1: Threatening Women Chapter 2: Ameliorating Misogyny Chapter 3: Discriminating Sexism Chapter 4: Taking His (Out) Chapter 5: Humanizing Hatred Chapter 6: Exonerating Men Chapter 7: Suspecting Victims Chapter 8: Losing (To) Misogynists Conclusion: The Giving She